


Clearing a New Path

by embroiderama



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, Snow and Ice, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-08
Updated: 2010-12-08
Packaged: 2017-10-16 01:52:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/167152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embroiderama/pseuds/embroiderama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he's home from college for winter break, Jared shovels some snow and meets that neighbor guy he used to have a crush on, the one who went to L.A. to be an actor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clearing a New Path

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a wish at [](http://community.livejournal.com/insmallpackages/profile)[**insmallpackages**](http://community.livejournal.com/insmallpackages/).

Jared had thought that, somehow, once he was out of high school he wouldn't have his parents telling him to do chores anymore. He'd imagined going off to live the fabulous college life in the dorms and never really thought about all the in-between times that would come over the next few years--winter break and summer break and all of that. At school, he was his own man, sort of, and he hadn't fucked it up at all. He finished his first semester with all A's and B's, and when he came home his parents hugged him and fed him and told him they were proud of him.

Then, when he woke up the next morning to two feet of snow on the ground, they handed him a shovel and told him to go clear the walk. And the driveway. And the cars. Jared tried to be a good son and not grumble too much, and he figured at least he could plug in his iPod and then pull a hat down over the earbuds. He'd be screwed if a song he didn't like came on, but at least it would give him a rhythm to shovel to.

Several songs later, Jared had the front walk scraped down the the thin layer of ice left from the sleet that fell before the rain. He grabbed the bag of salt from next to the front door and sprinkled it over the icy pavement before heading inside for a break. He needed the warmth and some coffee. And some donuts--this kind of workout deserved carbs. He stripped off his outer layer and and inhaled four donuts before making a half-ass latte. He warmed his nose and cheeks over the mug while he drank, but too soon it was time to head back out. No way did he want to be still working when it got dark, and he'd slept late enough that there wasn't a whole hell of a lot of day left before the early midwinter dusk.

Jared bundled himself back up in his coat, hat, scarf and gloves and went back out to tackle the cars. The afternoon sun had warmed up the metal under the snow, so the cars were easy, big chunks of heavy snow sliding off with each push of the broom. He was just starting to work on the driveway itself when, over his music, he heard the slow crunch of a car making its way down the street. The neighborhood had been dead all day, other than people doing the same thing as Jared, and Jared was happy to just groove to his music while he worked. Still, he figured there was nothing wrong with taking a breather, so he leaned on his shovel and watched as the SUV with rental stickers inches its way past and then gingerly started to turn into the driveway of the house on the other side of the street.

Jared felt his heart speed up from something other than the exertion of shoveling. It could be anybody driving that car, some random relative of the Ackles, but who would bother driving out in this snow other than somebody who had already flown in, like from California. Jared looked back down at the snow and smiled to himself, feeling like he was still thirteen, still a shrimpy little geek with a crush on the high school kid across the street. _Jensen._

If he hadn't been terrified of his secret coming out before he was ready to tell anybody, Jared would've drawn Jensen's name in hearts all over his notebooks back in eighth grade. He even talked his parents into taking him to see all of Jensen's school plays, convincing them he needed to write reports about the theatre. When he got to high school himself, he signed up for drama, and he could almost imagine that he was in school with Jensen for real, what with the pictures and posters from the previous years' performances up on the drama room walls.

But Jensen had moved to California to try to be a real actor, and while Jared hadn't seen him on TV or in a movie yet he kept on eye out, hoping to see familiar green eyes looking at him. It's not like he was a pathetic stalker. He didn't sit around mooning over Jensen. He'd come out to his parents junior year of high school, and he'd had a couple of boyfriends, but he and Chad had broken it off before they headed to their separate colleges and everybody he'd met so far at State felt more like a friend than a boyfriend.

Jared heard the whine of grinding tires and the stuttering growl of an engine and looked up to see the SUV was stuck, rocking back and forth in a drift of snow at the spot where the Ackles' driveway met the road. Jared figured that Mr. Ackles would probably be out any minute, but he dropped his shovel anyway and jogged down the driveway and across the street to stand next to the SUV's driver's side window.

The window rolled down, and holy crap _Jensen_. His hair was short and spiky, not longish and floppy the way Jared remembered, and he wore expensive-looking sunglasses that hid his eyes, but Jared could see the familiar freckles on his cheeks.

"Hey, you need help?"

"Um, I think so, yeah." Jensen undid his seatbelt, and Jared stepped back to let him out of the car. Jensen walked around to the back of the car and shook his head at the ruts under his back wheels. "My dad's on his way out, but if you don't mind helping me push. Uh?"

"Jared." Jared smiled and waved awkwardly, feeling like a total idiot.

Jensen pushed back his sunglasses to reveal eyes that were brilliantly green in the snow and sun and looked Jared up and down. "Jesus, seriously? You sure grew up."

"Happens." Jared shrugged. "I graduated from Westside last year, and I'm going to State now."

Jensen shook his head. "Good old Westside." He smiled at Jared, and Jared felt himself warm up enough to chase away the chill of the snow. That ember of his old crush flared up, and if somebody had handed him a notebook and some gel pens it would've been a mess of Jensen's name and his name and hearts and unicorns and everything else. Even better, he thought he saw something reflected back in Jensen's eyes, but then they both looked up at the slap of a door closing and Mr. Ackles was there in his coat and boots giving Jensen a big hug.

"Hey, Jared. I didn't know you were home from college already."

"Yes, sir." Jared nodded. "I, um, thought I could help get the car unstuck."

"Well, thanks. You get back there with Jensen, and I'll steer." With that, he got into the SUV, and Jared went to stand behind it next to Jensen. He took off his gloves to get a better grip, and the metal was cold under his palms, but Jensen's shoulder was brushing against his, and Jared tried not to stand there smiling like a freak. Mr. Ackles rolled down the window and shouted, "Okay!" Then Jared planted his feet and pushed, and after a few tries of struggling with the car only to have it fall back into place, it rolled out past its rut and into the already-cleared driveway.

Jared felt a flush of accomplishment that he'd helped, but then Jensen stepped away to open the SUV's trunk and Jared realized that it was done. Jensen wasn't exactly going to want to hang out with Jared now that he was home to visit his parents. Jared put on his gloves and turned to walk back across the street, but the sound of Jensen's voice stopped him. "Hey, wait!"

Jensen walked over and stood in front of Jared--so close. "It was awesome of you to help me out. Let me repay you?"

"Naw, it's okay. It wasn't a big deal."

"No, look, you're working on your folks' driveway, right? Let me just get my stuff inside, and then I'll grab our shovel and come help. It's going to be getting close to dusk soon, and then it'll be colder, and you need to finish, right?"

"Yeah, but I can get it." Jared shrugged.

"It'll be faster with two. Just give me like five minutes, and I'll be over there."

"If you say so." Jared turned away then so that he wouldn't say something stupid, so that Jensen wouldn't see him smiling too much. As he walked across the street, he heard the slam of car doors, and the scrape of bags being carried in over the snow. He told himself not to be disappointed if Jensen got hijacked by his mom and his sister and didn't actually make it outside. He set to work on the driveway, but before he got far from the front of the garage he heard footsteps crossing the road, and there was Jensen wearing a puffy, insulated jacket rather than the black wool coat he'd been wearing and carrying a shovel.

"Sorry it took me so long!"

"No, hey, you were totally fast. Thanks for coming over."

"Said I would." Jensen smiled--smiled like they were good friends even though they hadn't seen each other in a couple years and Jared always thought Jensen didn't notice him in the first place. It was weird. And awesome. And weird. "So, how about I start from the other end, you keep working from this end, and we meet in the middle."

"Okay, sure. You remember how to do this, all that time in L.A.?"

"Like riding a bike." Jensen smirked and headed back to the end of the driveway. Jared kept looking up at Jensen as they both worked. His upper body was hidden, swallowed up by the borrowed coat, but his legs were covered only in denim. The fabric stretched over his thighs as he bent down to scoop up a shovel of snow, and when he twisted around to toss the snow away Jensen could get a glimpse of his ass. It was a really nice glimpse.

When they got close enough to talk without shouting, Jared cleared his throat. "So, you like it out there? L.A.?"

"It's okay. I mean, there's a lot going on, but it's hard to get any real acting jobs."

"Yeah, that sucks." _I've been waiting to be able to see you on TV_ , Jared wanted to say, but creepy much? "So what've you been doing?"

"Some uh, catalog modeling." Jensen's cheeks were already flushed from the cold, but Jared thought he saw an extra tinge of pink creep across them. "Otherwise, mostly waiting tables and stuff. Actually, can I tell you something?"

"Uh, sure." Jared really, really hoped Jensen wasn't about to say that he'd been doing gay porn. Or that he was getting married. Or anything else awful like that. He shoveled a little more snow, and there wasn't much left, just a narrow band of white between him and Jensen.

"I've kind of made a decision. I haven't even told my parents yet, but when I fly back after Christmas it's just going to be to pack up and find somebody to take my place with my roommates. Gonna do what I planned on before I decided to try acting--go to school."

"Really? Wow, where?"

"Uh, State." Jensen looked up, grinning. "I've got an apartment lined up off-campus, and I'm registered for spring semester."

"That's awesome, man. I'll give you my number--call me if you want to know a good place to get wings or whatever."

"Anything I need to watch out for?"

"Like what? People on bikes?"

"I mean, I don't know." Jensen laughed as he bent down to get another shovel-full of snow. "Hazing rituals?"

"Hazing? Um, here, I'll take care of it for you." Jared scooped up the last clump of snow and flipped it up in the air over Jensen's head, where it seemed to hover for a long second before falling apart into crumbles of snow all over Jensen's knit hat and the shoulders and chest of his jacket, flakes clings to his cheeks and nose and ridiculously long eyelashes.

"You JERK!" Jensen didn't even bother shaking himself off, just jumped at Jared, pushing him past the side of the driveway and down to land on his ass in the mound of snow that they'd shoveled away. He ground a handful of snow into Jared's face, and Jared blindly groped to get his hands on Jensen's shoulders and then pushed and rolled them both over. He was laughing and shaking his head to rain snow down into Jensen's face when he realized that he was kneeling over Jensen, knees around Jensen's hips, face inches from Jensen's.

He swallowed hard, and suddenly his jeans were tight, his cock hard despite the cold, damp denim that was quickly soaking through to his underwear. "Um, sorry," he muttered, embarrassed and horrified that Jensen might be able to see. He started to push himself up but then Jensen's hands were on him, cold bare skin pushing under his jacket and shirts, shocking against the warmth he'd built up from an afternoon of shoveling.

"Wait," Jensen said. "C'mere." Jensen tugged on Jared's sides, and Jared followed, dropped down so his chest was on Jensen's chest, his cock against the line of Jensen's cock that he could feel through two sets of clothes. He put a steadying hand against Jensen's cold, pink cheek, and then their lips touched and opened and they were sharing the heat of their mouths, tongues slipping against each other. Jensen's fingers were warm now, flat against Jared's back, and it was more than the draft of cold air making its was past the hems of Jared's shirts that turned his skin into goosebumps.

Then Jensen's hands were nudging him _away_. "F-fuck," Jensen gasped.

"Yeah?" All Jared wanted was to keep touching, keep having Jensen in his space, in his hands.

"Fuh-freezing my ass off here. Luh-litterally." Jensen started to sit up, and Jared scrambled off of him.

"Sorry! Oh man, I wasn't even thinking." They were both covered in snow, but the back of Jensen's jeans was soaked through, encrusted with ice.

"Hey, it's okay." Jensen reached out and hooked his finger through one of the belt loops on Jared's jeans. "I wasn't either until my ass starting stinging. In the bad way."

Jared ducked his head, feeling himself start to blush like a twelve year-old. "Well, um, let me give you my number?"

"I think my fingers are too cold to work the buttons of my phone. So, how about you come over later? After dinner? My mom makes amazing Christmas cookies."

"Yeah? I think I can do that." Jared felt weirdly happy, over-happy, like it was about to burst out of his chest. "Man, I can't believe you're gonna be going to State! I can't believe--" Jared didn't know what to say, so he just gestured at the small amount of space between them.

"Yeah, you know? I'm starting to think it's the best decision I've made in a long time."

Jared grabbed the front of Jensen's jacket and pulled him in for another kiss, and if the two of them stayed cold for another little while, well, neither of them minded.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic Collection] A Very Supernatural Christmas: A Collection of Holiday Podfics](https://archiveofourown.org/works/375114) by [applegeuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/applegeuse/pseuds/applegeuse)




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